Man Charged In Killing Of Friend, Injuring Other

January 07, 1989|By RONNIE CROCKER Staff Writer

YORK — A convicted armed robber with a lengthy criminal record was charged Friday with the capital murder of a longtime acquaintance Thursday night.

Alwaajid Asmar H. Beybeyah, 35, of the 100 block of Spring Road in Lackey, also was charged with malicious wounding for another shooting and two counts each of robbery and using a gun while committing a felony. He was being held in the county jail late Friday in lieu of $100,000 bond.

Killed with two gunshot wounds in the back of the head was 34-year-old Donald Brooks of Grafton. Also wounded in the attack was Kent Griffin, 26, of Tabb. Griffin, who was in satisfactory condition at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, identified Beybeyah as the gunman, Sheriff P.S. Williams said.

Sheriff's Capt. Ron Montgomery said Beybeyah was driven by a friend to the Sheriff's Department about 9:30 a.m. Friday to turn himself in. He said Beybeyah admitted being with the two men who were shot, but he stopped short of admitting to the shooting.

Montgomery said there was no apparent motive, but he would not elaborate on the suspect's statement.

According to Williams and Montgomery, the three men had been riding around together in Griffin's 1978 Lincoln Continental since about 7:15 p.m., when they were seen at the Yorktown Square Apartments.

They stopped for gas at an Exxon station at Fort Eustis Boulevard and Route 17 at 8:15.

A report of a bleeding person walking along Fort Eustis Boulevard was received about 8:30 p.m.

The person, later identified as Griffin, was taken by a passerby to the Newport News Fire Department station across from the entrance to Newport News Park on Jefferson Avenue. An ambulance took him to Riverside.

Sheriff's Lt. Joe Adam found Brooks near the side of road when he went to look for Griffin. Brooks was rushed to Riverside also, but was pronounced dead soon after arrival.

Investigators spent Friday afternoon looking for Griffin's car and the murder weapon, believed to be either a .22-caliber or .25-caliber handgun.

Beybeyah is the Muslim name taken by Joseph Tyler sometime in the early 1980s, Montgomery said. Court records show that under the name Tyler, Beybeyah was convicted in 1975 of three counts of armed robbery and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Records show he was paroled in 1981.

He has a lengthy criminal history that dates back to 1967, when he was a juvenile. His adult record includes misdemeanor convictions for shoplifting, trespassing and assault and battery. His only other felony conviction was in a 1973 forgery case.

Beybeyah also was charged in November 1986 with the rape and sexual battery of a 16-year-old girl. He was tried the following August and found guilty by Circuit Judge G. Duane Holloway. But Holloway, at a sentencing hearing two months later, overturned his earlier decision and set Beybeyah free.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Nancy Bolash, who prosecuted the case, said she was angered by that ruling because the facts of the case seemed very straightforward at the time.